Hardy
The Withered Arm
THE WITHERED ARM
Sometimes strange things happen, and nobody can explain why. A door opens in the night, but there is nobody there. A cold hand takes you by the neck, but you are alone, and it is a warm day. You go into a house, and it is full of people. You cannot see them, but you can feel them there, waiting in the dark.
Rhoda is a farm worker. She is tall, with beautiful dark eyes, and works long hours for not much money. Gertrude does not work. She is pretty, has small white hands, a sweet smile, and beautiful dresses. Mr Lodge is a farmer, with a big farmhouse, and many fine cows on his rich farm. Which of the two women is the wife of Farmer Lodge? Which woman did he love, which woman does he love, which woman is the mother of his son?
And which of these people has a withered arm? A poor, thin, withered arm, an arm with the marks of fingers on it, an arm that grows thinner and more withered, week by week. How did those marks get there? Nobody knows, nobody can explain them. But people say they are a witch’s marks …
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DPOxford University Press is a department of the University of OxfordIt furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide inOxford New YorkAuckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei TorontoWith offices inArgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine VietnamOXFORD and OXFORD ENGLISH are registered trade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countriesThis simplified edition © Oxford University Press 2008Database right Oxford University Press (maker)First published in Oxford Bookworms 20042 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1No unauthorized photocopyingAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the ELT Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address aboveYou must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirerAny websites referred to in this publication are in the public domain and their addresses are provided by Oxford University Press for information only. Oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the contentISBN 978 0 19 478925 7A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of The Withered Arm is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 478860 1Word count (main text): 5735 wordsFor more information on the Oxford Bookworms Library, visit www.oup.com/bookwormswww.oup.com/bookwormse-Book ISBN 978 0 19 478704 8e-Book first published 2012 
